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- Admission
to Candidacy (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
A doctoral student will be admitted to candidacy
when the following conditions have been met: (a) selection and approval
of the dissertation topic;
(b) within six hours of satisfactory completion of approved coursework;
(c) completion of research skills, if applicable;
(d) approval and acceptance of graduate program by Office of Graduate
Studies. Any changes to program shall be forwarded with program of
study; (e) satisfactory completion of comprehensive/preliminary examination.
- Announcement of Doctoral/Educational Specialist/Master's Examination
(Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
This form must be filed by the student
with the Office of Graduate Studies at least one week prior to the
anticipated date of the defense or examination.
- Change
of Committee (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
Occasionally a student may need to
adjust his/her graduate committee membership due to diverging research
interests, faculty retirements, etc. Such changes are accomplished by
completing the Committee Change form. This form requires signatures of all entering and departing
committee members (when possible). Should any disagreements arise
concerning committee membership, the student should follow the appeal of
academic status procedure.
- Change
of Program of Study (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
Proposed
changes in an approved Program of Study require the signature of the
major professor, others as required by the policy of the program, the
graduate coordinator, and the student.
-
Committee
Request (Fill-in
PDF format)
(Word Document)
- Master's -The
graduate committee must consist of at least three members, all of whom
must be members of the Graduate Faculty. The committee is composed of
the major professor and two committee members, one of whom may be a
minor professor. Non-thesis programs with no variation in Program of
Study and/or with standardized examinations are not required to have
committees (per Graduate Council, 5/14/04).
- Educational Specialist - The Graduate Committee for the
specialist degree will be composed of at least three members. Two of the
members of the committee will represent the department or the area of
program emphasis. The Graduate Committee is chaired by the major advisor
representing the area of program emphasis and must be appointed within
the first six hours of course work taken after the student has been
admitted into the educational specialist program. The major professor or
the departmental graduate coordinator should complete the appropriate
form requesting the appointment of the committee members before the
Program of Study is submitted.
- Doctor of Education - The Graduate Committee will be composed of
at least five graduate faculty members decided upon by the department in
which the area of program emphasis is located and the supporting area
and/or minor department. The committee will be composed of a major
professor who must be a Level I member of the graduate faculty and from
the major field, a member from a supporting or minor area department, a
member from a department in education other than the department where
the area of program emphasis is located, and two additional members from
the area of program emphasis.
- Doctor of Philosophy - The graduate committee will be composed of
a minimum of four committee members, all of whom must hold graduate
faculty status. If the student has a minor, the graduate committee
consists of a minimum of five members. The committee must include a
major professor who is from the major field, as Chair, and who holds
Level 1 graduate faculty status. Two additional committee members must
also be from the student's major field.
- Distance Student Certification of Off-Campus/Non-MSU Research Facility (Fill-in PDF format)
- Due Dates for Graduate Student Forms
(PDF
format)
- Graduate Coordinators' Procedures for Processing
Students (PDF format)
- Overload (Fill-in PDF format)
During
Fall or Spring semesters, full-time enrollment consists of 9 to 13 hours of graduate courses. With approval of the appropriate
dean, a student
may register for a maximum of 16 hours. During the Summer, full-time
enrollment consists of 6 hours. A student must also secure approval to
exceed these hours.
- Program of Study (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
Each program
area has defined a general outline that indicates the structure of an
acceptable Program of Study for each graduate degree available. A student admitted to pursue a graduate degree must
establish a proposed Program of Study which designates all courses,
research skill requirements, and activities that must be completed
satisfactorily to earn the desired degree. In the development of the
Program of Study, the graduate student must consult with a graduate
faculty member identified to the student by the department head or the
graduate coordinator of the degree program area.
- Report of
Examination Results (Please contact Karin Lee or Pam Sullivan in the Office of Graduate Studies.)
-
Request for Extension of
Time (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word Document)
-
Request
for Initial Appointment to Graduate Faculty (Fill-in
PDF format)
Membership
on the Graduate Faculty shall be restricted to those who (a) have earned
a terminal degree (highest degree awarded in the discipline) in or
related to the faculty member's area of assigned graduate
responsibility; and (b) hold academic rank of Assistant Professor or
higher, or Research/Extension rank of Assistant Research
Professor/Assistant Extension Professor or higher at Mississippi State
University. To be appointed to membership in Level 2, the
individual must have demonstrated satisfactory performance in
scholarly/research/service/creative endeavors according to criteria
prescribed in the tenure and promotion policies document of the
individual's department/school/college. To be appointed to membership
in Level 1 category, the individual must have demonstrated excellent and
current performance in scholarly/research/service/creative endeavors
according to the criteria prescribed in the tenure and promotion
policies document of the individual's department/school/college.
Individuals who are not eligible for Graduate Faculty Membership as
described above and individuals who do not hold
academic/research/Extension rank or are not employed by Mississippi
State University, but do meet the requirements/qualifications for
appointment to the Level 1 or Level 2 categories may be appointed to the
Graduate Faculty by the College Dean via the recommendation of a
department head and his/her college/school dean. Such adjunct
appointments will be differentiated for record-keeping purposes as
appointments in Level 1A (A is for Adjunct) or Level 2A categories. The
term of appointment for such individuals will be limited and will be
determined by the college dean.
-
Request
to Change Campus (Fill-in PDF format)
- Request to for Reappointment to Graduate Faculty (Fill-in PDF format)
- Request to Retake a Course (Fill-in PDF format)
Transfer
Approval (Fill-in PDF format)
(Word
Document)
- Master's - With the approval of the
student's Graduate Committee, graduate course work done elsewhere may
be accepted toward fulfilling requirements for this degree. Transfer
must be approved by the degree-granting program, and the course(s) must
have been taken
within the six-year time limit. Grades of C grades or less are not
acceptable for transfer credit, nor are grades of S or Pass/Fail.
For most degree programs, transfer credit may not constitute more
than nine semester hours of course work. However, for master's
programs requiring more than 40 hours, transfer credits may constitute
up to 30 percent of the total credit hours of the program.
Credit from one master's degree program at MSU toward a second
MSU master's is also limited to a maximum of nine credit hours.
- Educational
Specialist - With
the approval of the student's Graduate Committee, graduate course work
done elsewhere may be accepted toward fulfilling requirements for this
degree. Transfer must be approved by the degree-granting program, and
the course(s) must
have been taken within the six-year time limit. A maximum of nine
semester hours may be transferred from another institution or from
off-campus or resident centers of Mississippi State University
provided the courses are appropriate to the
student's program and the graduate committee approves. A minimum of 21
semester hours must be earned at the Mississippi State University
main campus and/or the Meridian Center .
- Doctor
of Education - Graduate
credits earned in other recognized institutions may be transferred. The
number of the transferred credit hours may not exceed 45 semester
hours, except that students who have an earned the Educational
Specialist degree may transfer up to 60 semester hours if the courses
fit the curriculum requirements of the department in which the student
is pursuing the degree. Credits in which grades of C or less, S, or
Pass/Fail were earned are not accepted for transfer.
- Doctor of Philosophy - With the approval of the
student's Graduate Committee, graduate course work done elsewhere may
be accepted toward fulfilling requirements for this degree. Transfer
must be approved by the degree-granting program, and the course(s) must
have been taken within the eight-year time limit. In these cases,
however, one-half of the course work exclusive of dissertation credit
hours and all dissertation credit hours must be taken at Mississippi State University .
- Undergraduate
Request to Enroll in Graduate Courses (Fill-in
PDF format)
(Word
Document)
An undergraduate student at Mississippi State University who lacks
12 or fewer hours of undergraduate credit to complete the
requirements for the undergraduate degree may seek approval for
enrolling in courses for graduate credit in the semester or term he/she
is graduating. The undergraduate student should meet the grade point
average requirement for regular admission to the particular graduate
program. Prior to enrollment, the head of the department of the
undergraduate student's major must seek approval of the college dean
by written request endorsed by the instructor or appropriate
administrator of the unit in which graduate courses are to be taken. An
undergraduate student may take up to nine graduate credit hours. The
combination of undergraduate and graduate credit hours may not exceed 13
hours (per Graduate Council, effective May 14, 2004).
- Withdrawal from Graduate
Status to Undergraduate Status Form (Please contact
Karin Lee or Pam Sullivan in the Office of Graduate Studies.)
Forms
pertaining to assistantships can be found here: Assistantship
Forms.
